Tuesday, April 21, 2009

"Holla If Ya Hear Me" is a song by Tupac Shakur, from his second solo album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.. It was the first single released from this album in 1993. The track, which uses a sample from Public Enemy's "Rebel Without a Pause" is an anthem of resistance. Frustrations with black poverty, police injustice, and Tupac's own persecution from political figure Dan Quayle fuels the majority of the track. Hustling, bearing arms, and refusal to conform are the key methods of combating said issues, and the chorus leads those listeners in agreement to join in the movement.

The video made for the single was shot completely in black and white. Much like the track, the video clips were shot in an energetic, nearly-chaotic pace. The video starts off from the viewpoint of a young boy who witnesses his father's death. Tupac's lyrics of resistance to injustice and encouragement to bear arms and fight back are backed by his gathering groups of young black men and women to march in the streets. Between these are clips of the young boy in the aftermath of his father's death. After seeing his mother reminiscing on her lost husband, the young boy finds money in the house and takes to the street, later seen buying a gun from someone in an alley. Near the end of the video, Tupac, sporting a bulletproof vest, is walking around in a shooting range with a group of young people taking shots at paper targets (notably accurate in hitting "rib cage" and other vital locations on each target). In the final scene, Tupac and company have left, and the young boy is seen standing alone at the shooting range. He takes off his baseball cap and reveals himself to be a girl--the cap concealing her long hair. She reaches into her coat to retrieve her gun and, now aiming at the target, fires a round. [Via Wiki]